Legends In The Dark
by Kakaza
Summary: AU. Master Chief awakens not in 2557, but in 2874. Humanity has formed a new society with the former Covenant species called the Central Systems Alliance. The only race not part of the CSA is the Jiralhanae; the CSA is locked in a centuries-old conflict with them. When a new evil threatens the galaxy, can John 117, long ago faded into a myth, save the CSA? Or will he destroy it?
1. On Patrol

**Greetings to all those Halo fans out there! This is my first Halo fanfic so I hope you enjoy it! A little background on the universe; after the battle of Installation 00, a uneasy alliance was formed between the UEG and the former Covenant races (except the Jiralhanae, who hated everyone and wanted nothing to do with anything that would get between them and murder). During this time of turmoil, a few groups of humans broke off from the UEG, found new worlds, and declared themselves independent from the UEG. Some of these groups fiercely rejected any aliens from their territory, while others welcomed them. Eventually (and notably after all of those who fought in the human-covenant war had died), the UEG, Sangheili and the most powerful factions of the Unggoy and Kig-Yar decided to merge into one new society: the Central Systems Alliance, or CSA. After exactly 42 years of preparation, the CSA launched a massive campaign to conquer the other factions of humans and ex-covenant. After 49 years of war, the CSA emerged victorious, all of known civilization under their rule. All that is, except the Jiralhanae, who since the destruction of the Covenant had formed the Virapak, an alliance of most Jiralhanae under one goal: attacking the CSA. As for John 117, he was left floating in space of centuries; Halo 4 never happened. He was left frozen, waiting, until one fateful day in what would be the year 2874 if BC/AD time was still being used.  
**

* * *

Shipmaster Ryan Harmon gazed lazily at a monitor on the bridge of his ship, the CSA _Valiant __Stand_. He was on patrol for any signs of Jiralhanae ships, should they decide to crash the party that was the construction of the Rampart. The massive space station was to be the glorious new capital of the Central Systems Alliance, constructed mainly out of the remains of the Forerunner Ark that had been destroyed centuries ago. It was the biggest construction project since the construction of the Array by the Forerunners over 100,000 years ago. The Shipmaster was jolted from his thoughts when a beeping noise emanated from the monitor. The display showed an object floating in space a few kilometers from the _Valiant __Stand_. This was curious; he had thought that the construction ships had gathered up all the pieces of the Ark for the construction of the Rampart. However, any suspicions of the object being a piece of the Ark were destroyed when another beep came from the monitor, and a notification appeared of the screen alerting Harmon that a radio signal was coming from the mysterious object. Now, the fact that this object existed at all was curious unto itself, but this signal was a whole other beast. Radios, or any kind of signal, hadn't been used by the CSA since the invention of the Quantum Comm, a device which uses quantum entanglement to communicate with anywhere instantly, by Tipes 'Wattinr (her current occupation being using the rather large amount of money she had acquired from licensing the Comm to fund increasingly complex and expensive experiments). The only reason that CSA ships had radios at all was for hailing Jiralhanae ships (though this rarely accomplished more than allowing the two sides to exchange death threats). According to the monitor, the radio signal was an ancient audio signal, used for ship-to-ship communication. A small part of Harmon's mind gnawed on the question of why a run-of-the-mill CSA cruiser would have definitions on ancient communications standards while the rest of his mind focused on pressing the button on the screen that would play the audio message.

Shipmaster Ryan Harmon, of the CSA _Valiant __Stand__, _was in no way prepared for what he heard. This was a man who was prepared to hear the screams of innocent CSA citizens being tortured to death by Jiralhanae, yet he was not prepared for this. The voice was human, a woman, but the words she spoke were a language that he had never heard. In fact, never in his life had he heard any language but the Common Tongue; even the barbarian Jiralhanae's speech was translated for him. This truly was a mystery, and Ryan Harmon loved solving mysteries. He paced over to the central console of the bridge and prepared to give his orders.

-Rec Room, CSA _Valiant __Stand_-

The Rec Room of the cruiser was bustling with activity as the crew enjoyed their time off as the _Valiant __Stand _patrolled the space around the Rampart construction site, an activity which generally required nothing of a ship's Marine outfit. Among the various characters, including a Kig-Yar with over a dozen Jiralhanae thumbs on a necklace and a Unggoy that had gotten into a fight with a Sangheili, and much to the amusement of onlookers, was winning, were 3 CSA Marines sitting around a table. One, Sangheili Urst 'Fulsam, was reminiscing about one time when a Unggoy Marine had betrayed his squad to the mongrels. It had dramatically pulled a plasma carbine on him, much to the amusement of Urst, who was armed with a Particle Cannon. The Unggoy didn't even have time to scream. The next Marine went by Lizzy, and was currently engaged in an argument with the last Marine, who went by Angler, over who was to blame for the Chi Cheti IV incident.

Suddenly the Shipmaster's voice rang out over the intercom. "Fireteam Delta, please report to the Hanger". After a set of groans from the group around the table, the three left for the hanger. What could this be about?

* * *

**So, what did you think? Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Suit Up

**Alright, second chapter! Some things to clear up on the factions: first, not all Kig-Yar are part of the CSA. A large number are mercs and pirates. The Yanme'e (Drones) are not part of the CSA or Virapak, they disappeared after the Battle of Installation 00 and haven't been seen since.**

As the group of three jogged through the halls of the _Valiant __Stand_, they debated why they were being called.

"It's not Jiralhanae," remarked Lizzy "If it were, the whole ship would be called to battle stations, even for a wrecked ship"

"No, this is something else entirely" said Urst "But what?"

As they finally entered the Hangar, they saw Shipmaster Ryan Harmon along with the rest of fireteam Delta waiting for them. The remainder of the team consisted of a Sangheili, two Unggoy, and the Sergeant of fireteam Delta. The Sergeant of fireteam Delta was perhaps the most remarkable in the entire CSA fleet. That was mainly because he was a Unggoy. Zipzap, or Zippy, was one of the best in the entire CSA fleet at devising unique, creative, and effective strategies. At least that's what the CSA Brass said; those who served under him generally regarded him as crazy. Also present was a Kig-Yar whom none of the team had ever seen before.'

"Alright team" the Shipmaster started "We've detected an unknown ship floating in space. The ship is transmitting a radio signal, an ancient audio standard. The signal's audio is a human female speaking in an unknown language" he continued "You will board the ship and find out what's going on. There may be depressurization in some parts of the ship so you'll need to suit up in EAA suits"

"Who's the Kig-Yar?" asked Urst.

"This is Bob" said the Shipmaster, pointing to the Kig-Yar "He's a tech who will be accompanying you aboard the ship in case his skills are needed"

The members of fireteam Delta exchanged puzzled looks over the Kig-Yar's name.

"Alright team, go suit up. We don't know what you'll find in there, but I pray that it's not the next Covenant"

* * *

Angler double-timed it with the other Marines to the Armory, which was through one of the many doors along the walls of the Hangar. The Humans, Sangheili and Kig-Yar stepped on glowing pads on the ground and spread their arms and legs. The standard CSA combat skin for humans sprung out of the his pad and formed around him, as with the others for their respective races, though the Sangheili and Kig-Yar equipped EAA (Extra-Atmosphere-Activities) suits instead of their standard ones, which unlike the standard Human combat skin did not have extra-atmosphere capabilities. Angler stared at his hands as the armor formed around them; no matter how many times he "equipped" the armor, the process still amazed him. The helmet finally descended onto his head, attaching to the armor with an audible click. The armor looked similar to the spartan armor of old, but much more streamlined, with subtle hints of Covenant design. It was a clean, but not sterile white, with glowing blue highlights like the highlights on forerunner technology. These lines were applied in a more minimalist fashion though, creating a more appealing look. His polarized visor was the same bright blue as the highlights; though it did not glow, it matched perfectly. As soon as the helmet clicked into place, Angler heard a faint hum as his shields powered up, and as a moved his arms he could feel the power of the suit enhancing his strength. While he was completely unaugmented, like all other CSA Marines, the suit's dumb AI interpreted his brainwaves to ensure that he didn't hurt himself. Even now, smart AIs were only used in-armor by the Black Death.

Angler and the others stepped off their armor pads and walked over to the weapons racks. Knowing that he would be in close quarters, he skipped over the tried-and-true CO46 Crossover Rifle, reaching instead for a Plasma Carbine. The automatic weapon would be more useful in CQB situations than the single-shot CO46. The others (the Unggoy did not need to equip armor, as they wore it all the time in order to breath the oxygen-nitrogen air of CSA ships) grabbed a similar armament of CQB weapons, with a combination of Plasma Carbines and shotguns.

"This is incredible" Lizzy started "it's playing out just like the legend!"

"What legend?" Asked Angler.

"You know, the legend of 117. _He __rests __frozen __in __the __deepest__, __darkest __depths __of __space__. __Waiting __in __the __aft __of __the __ancient __ship__. __He __will __wake __when __we __need __him_" Lizzy responded. She had always been fascinated by old legends.

"117 is just a myth" said Angler "he never really existed"

"Were it so easy..."

**So it looks like our heroes are about to explore the mysterious ship! What will they find? Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	3. The Black Death

**Nice big chapter here! More words as the previous two put together! Also, it turns out I messed up my own canon. The COR64 mentioned in the last chapter was named as such as it is a CrossOver Rifle that began service in 2864. However, to the CSA the year isn't 2874, it's 256, as when the CSA was established one of the many things established was CSA standard time. CSAST includes a year system where the founding year of the CSA, 2618 AD, is year 0. Previous years are negative numbers (2013 AD is -605 CSAST, for example). Because of this, the COR64 should be the CO46 instead (I removed the R because I found the name flows better without it). I've updated the previous chapter to reflect this change, but just thought I should bring up that the CO46 in this chapter is the correct name for the COR64 from chapter two. Enjoy the action!  
**

* * *

Brutus was a young Jiralhanae, fresh out of boot camp. He was stationed on the Kaiker Outpost, which was a defense space station around the former Jiralhanae world of Kaiker. Kaiker had been glassed by the CSA decades ago. It was part of the "No man's land" that separated CSA and Virapak space, a band of glassed worlds, some Virapak and some CSA. Being stationed on Kaiker Outpost was very frustrating to Brutus; he wanted to be on the front lines, slaying CSA soldiers (and civilians), not guarding some outpost that would never see action! He grunted in frustration over his fate while he stood guard in the Outpost's hangar, not that there was anything to guard it against.

* * *

OP-049 "Blade" looked up from her computer as the CSA _Stalker __in __the __Night_'s A.I., Septor, announced that they were 10 minutes to target. The target being an unassuming brute outpost orbiting the glassed world of Kaiker. The _Stalker _was a CSA Spectre-class ship. The Spectres were based on the Wasp-class Fighter-Frigate, and the descendants of the UNSC prowlers of old. The Fighter-Frigate was one of the most ingenious creations of the CSA: smaller than regular Frigates, but large enough to wield an energy projector on the bow (even regular CSA Frigates usually used projectors over MACs. Cruisers had both), as well as some point-defense laser turrets and a small amount of missiles. Fighter-Frigates are nimble and maneuverable, moving more like fighters than a starship, swarming around larger ships performing deadly hit and run Wasp-class Fighter-Frigate lacks a slipspace drive, as it's meant to be launched from an Ares-class Cruiser or larger. The Spectre-class is essentially a Wasp heavily modified for stealth operations. First off all, the Spectre is equipped with a slipspace drive, allowing it to move across the stars without a massive capital ship to carry it (an Ares-class cruiser is about 3.5km long, which makes hiding its presence from enemies rather difficult). Next, the Spectre is equipped with extensive stealth systems: an active camouflage system prevents visual detection and a system that captures radiation and other energy emitted from the craft and stores it with the ship. As soon as the ship decloaks, the stored energy is jettisoned violently; this has been used multiple times by Shipmasters as a weapon to take down opponent's shields. This energy capture process can be sustained for 10 days before the stored energy must be jettisoned. Finally, the Spectre, unlike the Wasp, has a shipboard AI.

The _Stalker _had approached the outpost using standard CSA stealth tactics: exit slipspace outside of the range of enemy scanners, approach target with stealth systems engaged in real space. Blade double-timed to the Armory, her footsteps echoing through the halls. When she reached the Armory, she strode past the glowing pad on the ground; she was already clad in the armor of the Black Death. The Black Death are the successors to the Spartans. The very best of the best soldiers of the CSA are biologically augmented, undergo rigorous training, and receive the most advanced armor in the galaxy. The armor had basically the same body as the standard Sangheili EAA, but was jet black, with red highlights. The visor of the armor hid her face; Black Death Operatives never showed their faces. She grabbed a CO46 Crossover Rifle and a Plasma Carbine, snapping the weapons to her magnetic holsters. She walked over to the middle of the Armory, where there was a large circular structure: the ship's gravity lift. Fighter-Frigates were too small to carry any other vessels, so she would have to insert through the lift.

"Over drop zone in 30 seconds" Septor's voice rang out over the intercom.

She removed the Crossover Rifle from it's holster, slamming a clip of 12 bolts into the weapon. "Affirmative and ready to drop"

* * *

The _Stalker _de-cloaked directly above the Jiralhanae outpost. Blade quickly entered the grav lift and descended into the Hangar of the outpost, allowing the _Stalker _to re-cloak and slip away before the outpost's point defense guns could fire on it. She had to work fast; Jiralhanae ships were no doubt in transit to the Kaiker system already, and they didn't want to be around when they got here. Fortunately, Black Death excelled at working fast. When she hit the ground, she quickly leveled her Crossover Rifle at the nearest mongrel, letting out four shots. The first three shots dropped the beast's shields, and the last shot hit it directly in the neck, decapitating it.

The Crossover Rifle is a single-shot precision weapon that fires bolts. The bolts themselves are small magnetic slugs about the size of a high-caliber bullet. They are fired using magnetic acceleration, making the Crossover Rifle a type of railgun. But the Crossover Rifle has a trick up it's sleeve: at the end of the barrel, plasma emitters put a plasma shell around each slug, held in place by the magnetic field of the slug, forming a bolt. The plasma does critical damage to shields while the slugs rip through armor and flesh like a knife through hot butter. The weapon itself looks like the railgun from halo 4 in the style of the CSA (white with blue highlights, while a simple curved design based on geometric shapes).

The other brutes opened fire on Blade with their Particle Rifles, peppering her position and causing her hard light shields to activate, blocking the rounds. She quickly grabbed a small grenade-like cylinder and threw it at the ground near her feet. The cylinder stabilized itself as soon as it the ground, then emitted a hard light barrier which Blade hid behind, allowing her shields to recharge. Once they did, she popped out of cover and quickly fired off another four shots at an ape that was out of cover, killing it. Now there were only two left. Reaching down to her holster, she retrieved a sticky grenade. Popping out of cover one last time, she hurled the grenade at the mongrels with deadly accuracy. The grenade hit one of the brutes directly in the face, sticking to the poor beast. It screamed in terror and clawed at it's face to no avail.

BEEB

BEEB

BEEB

The grenade exploded, instantly killing both apes. The Hangar clear, Blade ran down one of the hallways leading from the hangar. She encountered a few mongrels in the halls of the station, but she was able to quickly end them with the Plasma Carbine. At last she found what she was looking for: a terminal hooked up to the brute Battle Net.

"Alright Septor, I'm in" she announced.

"OK" Septor responded "plug the chip you brought into the terminal"

"Done" she said as she inserted the chip.

"Alright, I've got it from here, you stand guard and keep them from unplugging me" Septor said as he went to work on the terminal.

As soon as Septor said that, brutes and Kig-Yar started pouring into the room. '_Mercs_' Blade thought as she raised her Crossover Rifle, dropping several of the Kig-Yar mercenaries. As the Kig-Yar, seeing her killing their comrades, started backing away, she quickly switched to her Plasma Carbine and gunned down several apes. But even as she slaughtered the mongrels, more streamed in, and the Kig-Yar she had killed earlier had already been replaced with reinforcements. As she gunned down more mercs and barbarians, it was becoming rapidly clear to her that she couldn't keep up with the flow.

"How much longer Septor?" She asked, panic in her voice. If she died and the brutes disconnected Septor before he could get the intel, the whole op would be for nothing.

"I still need a few more minutes" Septor responded "Hold them off Blade!"

Looking at the mob of enemies, Blade dropped her guns. '_Time __to __show __them __what __I __can __really __do_' she thought as she lobbed her remaining grenades into the crowd. While the surviving brutes and mercs were stunned from the blast, she reached down to her hips and drew two type-2 energy swords, igniting the hard light blades. Leaping into the fray, she quickly sliced a brute in half, and then in the same motion used her other sword to kill one of the Kig-Yar. She continued to slice and dice the enemies, dodging, swiping, and stabbing with a fluid grace only attainable with decades of honing skills.

"Alright Blade, let's get out of here!" Septor exclaimed as Blade pulled one of her swords out of the chest of a brute. She quickly backflipped out of the crowd, grabbed the chip from the terminal and dashed out of a hallway, enemies charging after her. When she reached the Hangar, she saw that an entire mongrel fleet had arrived!

Brute ships have the basic body shape of the Covenant ships of old, though they tend to be more hack-job work. Rather than purple, they are bright red. But their most notable aspect is the spikes. The ape's ships are covered with spikes, though the spikes are more shaped like thorns, hooking forward, as opposed to straight spikes. This is because the spikes aren't for show; the barbaric apes ram the spikes into CSA ships, shredding their armor and destroying them in seconds. The color and thorns have given the ships the nickname "Roses", after the Earth flower.

When she arrived at the Hangar, the _Stalker _reappeared above and sucked her up via the grav lift. As soon as it decloaked, the brute ships quickly opened fire. The Shipmaster was barely able to avoid the shots.

"Septor, plot a slipspace course to Reach!" the Shipmaster said. He knew that the Jiralhanae would not be foolish enough to follow them there; their ships would be obliterated by the ODPs.

"Course plotted" Septor replied.

"Take us there!"

A slipspace portal opened in front of the _Stalker __in __the __Night_, and the ship slipped through it just before another volley passed through where they would have been if not for the jump. They had made it.

* * *

**Alright! Next chapter, fireteam Delta explores the mysterious vessel. What will they find? What language was the woman speaking? Why is that Kig-Yar named Bob? All these questions and more answered in the next chapter! And as always don't forget to review!**


	4. The Wreck

**Sorry about the very short chapter today, next one will be much better. In response to hornet07's question about the Jiralhanae, I've included a brief history of the Jiralhanae which should answer any questions about how they are able to compete with the CSA. It's also worth noting that many of the Jiralhanae's technologies are based off of captured CSA research, which helps them keep up with the CSA's weapons, and that while the CSA dedicates little of it's economic, industrial, and population power towards warfare, the Virapak uses _all _of it's ability to fight, as every last Jiralhanae hates the CSA. So, without further ado, enjoy the unfortunately-short chapter!**

* * *

-A History of the Jiralhanae from the Battle of Installation 00 to the events of LITD (2874 AD)-

*After the destruction of High Charity, and later the Ark, the San 'Shyuum were on the verge of extinction. They fled with the remaining Jiralhanae into deep space

*The San 'Shyuum teach the Jiralhanae how to build advanced technology, and how to sustain a society. The San 'Shyuum are reluctant to do so, but must out of necessity.

*The Jiralhanae look at the society that they've built. They control fully functional industry, military and agricultural systems. The San 'Shyuum are no longer needed. The San 'Shyuum are quickly killed; their deaths are as quick as they are brutal. The Virapak is formed. It's mission: destroy the CSA.

* * *

Fireteam Delta walked back to the hangar, fully geared up. They climbed aboard a Valkyrie dropship that was waiting for them.

"So Bob, what's with the name?" asked Zippy as the Valkyrie pulled away from the Ascension-Class cruiser and towards the mysterious wreck.

"My parents entered a contest for most ridiculous baby name" Bob explained "I won."

"Why haven't you changed your name?" asked Urst "I doubt your parents would be offended, under the circumstances"

"I like it" Bob said "It's unique. I'm the only Kig-Yar named Bob in the entire galaxy!"

"I guess there's that" Urst replied.

They were getting close the the wreck now. The grey hull loomed in front of them. The ship was tiny: only 200 meters long. However, it was plain to see that a large portion of the ship had broken off long ago. The whole scene was eerily quiet and still. Lizzy felt like they were encroaching on a burial ground. It dawned on her that they probably were.

They finally reached a hole in the hull. The Valkyrie maneuvered itself so that they could exit out the grav lift and onto the hull. They drifted into a hallway; the artificial gravity had failed long ago.

"Look at this place" Lizzy said. The hallway was a drab grey and utilitarian in appearance. Holographic and flat screen terminals flickered as they floated by. Some kind of ice crystals hung in the air. They reminded Angler of snowflakes. The mysterious voice continued its message over the intercom.

"This place must be over three hundred years old!" Lizzy said.

They eventually came to a small room. There were odd cylinders lining the walls. What could they be...

"Cryo tubes!" Lizzy exclaimed. "These are cryo tubes!"

"Alright, everyone look for survivors in the tubes" said Zippy "Bob, you check out that terminal"

Delta started checking the cryo tubes as Bob floated over to the terminal. The whole room was covered in ice, and their lights casted a soft blue glow. Even though their suits were heated, the whole room felt cold to the team. The atmosphere was completed by the floating ice. The room felt very sill, a place long forgotten by time.

"Interesting" Bob suddenly said, cutting into the silence "There appears to be some kind of ancient AI in here. It seems to have put itself into a hack-job state of stasis. It is badly damaged, but I'm sure it can be saved by someone who is an expert at this kind of thing"

Bob worked on moving the AI onto a storage stick while Delta continued to search the pods. '_This __is __stupid__. __There __is __nothing __here_' Angler thought as he wiped away the mist on the window of yet another empty pod. He came to the pod in the center, aligned with the door. He wiped away the mist, and the pod was not empty.

"I've found something!"

* * *

**Told you it would be short. However, next chapter we get to meet the new evil! That one will be much longer and generally more interesting. Stay tuned, and as always please review!**


	5. New Foe

**Hey! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait.**

Ethan heard a gurgling scream, and Rek Vzar fell to the ground, two spikes sticking out of his head. The death of the kig-yar left only him and a sangheili, Karn 'Taham, alive out of their 7-soldier team. Preparing to fire his CO46 at the enemy forces, Ethan thought back to how they got into this...

-15 Minutes earlier-

Ethan grabbed a CO46, slamming a twelve bolt clip into the weapon with a satisfying _clack_. Their mission was to explore a mysterious ship that the Ascension-class cruiser _Jagged __Shadow _had discovered in the Arenade system. The other ship was holding position and had not responded to their hails. While most soldiers prefered the Plasma Carbine for fighting inside ships, Ethan preferred the precision of the CO46. One sangheili, Karn 'Taham, had picked up a Torpedo Launcher. Why he thought that was a good idea Ethan did not know. Ethan was the leader of fireteam Echo, which consisted of 7 members: him, Karn, kig-yar Rek Vzar, unggoy Zula, unggoy Ripa, kig-yar Kev Nez, and human Matt Spencer. After Echo finished picking weapons, they headed back into the hangar from the armory. They boarded a Valkyrie and took off towards the ship. The other ship loomed in front of the Valkyrie. It looked odd, like it wasn't made of metal. As the Valkyrie got closer, it became apparent that the other ship wasn't made of metal at all, but what looked like _plant __growth_. Some of the hull seemed to be made of massive leaves, covered with veins, while other parts looked fungal.

"Whoa..." murmured Ethan, awestruck at the bizarre ship.

"It looks like it's made out of plants" Karn commented.

The Valkyrie flew along the hull of the mysterious ship, looking for a hanger or opening of some kind to allow the Marines to enter. At last, the dropship came to an opening, which looked to be a hangar, though the room it led into was barren.

"No atmosphere, good thing we came in EAA suits" said Kev.

After team Echo piled out of the Valkyrie into the 'hangar', the dropship departed to investigate the rest of the mysterious craft. The dropship would still be able to quickly pick them up if anything went wrong. As team Echo took up defensive positions around the 'hangar', they took in their surroundings. The floor was somewhat squishy, and seemed to be made out of mushroom. The walls seemed to be made mostly out of the leaf substance found on the hull, but were supported by what appeared to be branches, running vertically and forming 'ribs' for the ship. The room was made of the same mushroom material as the floor, with large 'stalks' supporting it. At the other end of the room were a couple openings in the wall, obstructed by vines that were woven over the entrance. A few bioluminescent bulbs hung from the ceiling, providing light to the room. Due to the lack of air, the whole place was eerily quiet. Ethan walked over to one of the doors. Karn followed him, flipping off the safety and preparing his Torpedo Launcher to fire, should something hostile approach. Up close, Ethan got a better look at the vines. They were thick and smooth, and looked very strong.

"Well, nothing ventured nothing gained" Ethan muttered as he slowly reached out his hand toward the vines. Echo raised their weapons and prepared to fire, while Karn aligned his reticule so that he could fire through the doorway without hitting Ethan.

As soon as Ethan's hand touched the vines, they slid away and retracted into the walls at an astonishing speed. On the other side of the doorway was a hallway. It was made of the same material as the hangar: a mushroom floor, leaf walls (with branches for support), and a mushroom ceiling. Upon seeing that there were no hostiles on the other side, Ethan signaled for team Echo to form up on him. Karn took the lead, as his Torpedo Launcher would be useless with friendlies in front of him, which Ethan right behind him and the rest of Echo following. They slowly made their way down the hall, weapons at the ready. After a short while, they came to an intersection. They took the right door, deciding it would be best to not split up. Once again, the vines forming the door quickly retracted, re-weaving themselves as soon as the group passed through. They continued through a few more intersections. While the ship itself was creepy enough, the thing that really put Ethan on edge was the fact that they had yet to encounter whoever the ship belonged to. All the halls were empty. Just as he finished that thought, however, a door ahead of them opened and three _things _ran out. The had the same body shape as humans, and were about the same size too. However, that was about were the similarities end. The were made entirely out of plant matter: the feet and legs were made out of fungus with leaves wrapped around the straight sections and the torso was massive fungal growth. The arms were effectively the same as the legs, with a fungal structure wrapped in leaves. One arm had a giant sword-like growth on it while the other had what appeared to be a hand. The hand was made up entirely of fungus. Finally, the head was a giant fungal growth with a split where the mouth would be. The creatures looked at team Echo, then instantly charged them. Echo opened fire with their Plasma Carbines, but while the shots burned and scorched away plenty of 'flesh', the beasts did not falter. Ethan raised his Crossover Rifle and fired a few shots at one of them. The shots tore through it's torso, and the creature fell and lay still. But he knew that the other two would be upon them before he could shoot them. Just then a blue bolt of energy streaked past and collided with one the the creatures. The bolt exploded, and both of the beasts were incinerated. Karn 'Taham walked forward, Torpedo Launcher over his shoulder.

"Knew I'd want this thing!" he exclaimed.

Unfortunately, any celebration was short lived. A scream was heard, and they turned to see Spencer fall to the ground limp. One of the creatures had snuck up on the group from behind and impaled him with it's sword. Ethan brought his CO46 to his hip and hammered out six shots, ripping the monster to shreds. The group scanned around, and finding no more hostiles, cautiously moved forward. The next room they entered was large, open and circular. Four of the creatures stood at the far end of the room. Instead of a sword, it's arm had some sort of odd fungal growth on it. Ethan thought it looked like a gun, and his suspicions about it's purpose were confirmed when a barrage of thorns sprang from the growths and smashed into Echo's shields. The kig-yar, Rek and Kev, crouched down and deployed their hard-light shields. The were using type-2 HLS systems: unlike the type-1 standard for CSA Marines, which maintained the soldier's usual personal shields as well as the HLS, can be taken down quickly by concentrated fire, the type-2s reroute energy from the personal shields to the HLS, making it almost unbreakable, even against heavy weapons. Unfortunately, this also means that the user is exposed to fire from the side and back. As the unggoy took cover behind the kig-yar, Karn threw down two portable hard-light shield generators, and he and Ethan took cover being them. The unggoys shields recharged, and they leaned out from behind the kig-yar's HLS's and let out a barrage of plasma. Like before, the superheated gas seemed to have little effect of the creatures, and the unggoy were soon forced back into cover by the creatures' return fire. Ethan realised that only he and Karn had weapons that could hurt the creatures, as plasma appeared to have little to no effect on them. Rising up out of cover, Ethan fired three shots at one of the creatures, causing it to spasm and drop. Karn fired a micro plasma torpedo at the ground between two of the creatures, killing them both. The last remaining creature sprayed at them with it's arm-gun, forcing them to crouch back down behind the barriers. As soon as the barrage stopped, Ethan popped back out of cover and fired one shot, straight to the creature's head. As the creature fell down, dead, Ethan heard a yell through his helmet. Five more of the creatures had come up behind them. The creatures opened fire pegging Kev in the head. Since Kev had his HLS open, he didn't have his personal shields up, so the shop killed him instantly. Rek quickly spun around, his HLS intercepting deadly rounds sent his way. Ethan and Karn, quickly vaulted over the Hard-Light barrier and took cover, Karn firing off a torpedo while doing so. The torpedo hit one of the creatures, killing it, but there were still four left. As Rek reached the barrier, the creatures focused their fire on the two unggoy. The unggoy returned fire with their plasma carbines, but as usual the creatures didn't seem to even notice the fire. The thorns of the creatures arm-guns quickly stripped the unggoy's shields and soon they were dead on the ground. Ethan popped back out of cover and unleashed a hail of bolts from the CO46 upon the creatures tearing two of them to shreds. As he slapped in a fresh clip, Karn finished off the last two with a well placed mini plasma torpedo.

"We have to get out of here!" Ethan exclaimed. "We'll go back to the hanger area we entered in."

Karn and Rek gave their confirmation, and the small group quickly made their way back the way they had come. When they were about halfway down a hallway, the 'door' in front of them opened and three of the creatures came through. The creatures concentrated their fire on Rek, stripping his shields almost instantly and putting two spikes in his head. Ethan brought up his CO46 to fire, but before he could Karn fired a torpedo at the creatures, killing all three instantly.

"Out of battery!" Karn exclaimed as he threw the inert launcher on the ground.

What had earlier been a hasty, but cautious and ready jog was now a no-holds-barred sprint as Ethan and Karn desperately ran through room after room. Finally, they came back to the hangar. Ethan quickly messaged the Valkyrie to pick them up, and soon they were away.


End file.
